law for womens home page > Rape laws in India

Sexual harassment and rape are two sides of the same coin. Both showcase the power of man to dominate that of women. Both have one victim- 'women'. Both are barbaric in

nature; but many people extenuate sexual harassment to rape, just because the victims are not physically harmed. Whereas in rape- the victim is ravished like an animal for the fulfillment of desire and lust of another man. Both have the same object- to undermine the integrity of the victim, physically as well as mentally.

As observed by Justice Arjit Pasayat:
" While a murderer destroys the physical frame of the victim, a rapist degrades and defiles the soul of a helpless female."

 Sexual harassment is nothing less than the showcasing of male dominance. Given an opportunity, such men (those committing sexual harassement) would try fulfilling their desire. However, it also not true that all cases of sexual harassement are such- where the accused is guilty of conceiving the intention of a sexual intercourse. But it also depends on each individual case and circumstances, because it may well be the case that the woman may also be at fault. 

The question is not whether women have the right to bodily integrity, as this right is already adumbrated under Article.21 of the Constitution of India. Article.21, which guarantees the right to life and liberty to men and women both alike- but whether it is really imperative to take a decisive step towards extirpating this evil and make the contemporary and future society a safe haven for women. 

According to the official statistics of 1991, one woman is molested every 26 minutes. These statistics refer to the reported cases. Whereas, if the unreported cases were to be included, it would be a matter of seconds- rather than minutes. investigation of Most cases are not reported by victims because of various reasons such as family pressures, the manner of the police, the unreasonably long and unjust process and application of law; and the resulting consequences thereof. 

In instances where women have reported such illegal and unwelcome behavior, there have been significant victories in the past decade or so. Also considering the fact the sometimes these victories are achieved after a wait of a decade or so. 

In Rupan Deol Bajaj Vs. K PS.Gill , a senior IAS officer, Rupan Bajaj was slapped on the posterior by the then Chief of Police, Punjab- Mr. K P S.Gill at a dinner party in July 1988. Rupan Bajaj filed a suit against him, despite the public opinion that she was blowing it out of proportion, along with the attempts by all the senior officials of the state to suppress the matter.

The Supreme Court in January, 1998 fined Mr.K P S.Gill Rs.2.5 lacs in lieu of three months Rigorous Imprisonment under Sections. 294 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code. 

In N Radhabai Vs. D. Ramchandran , when Radhabai, Secretary to D Ramchandran, the then social minister for state protested against his abuse of girls in the welfare institutions, he attempted to molest her, which was followed by her dismissal. The Supreme Court in 1995 passed the judgment in her favour, with back pay and perks from the date of dismissal.

MUMBAI: The recent incident where a South African woman cried rape against a fellow national only to retract her charge later has exposed the grey areas in India's rape laws, say lawyers and police officers.

The accused, a reputed high court judge, had to cool his heels in prison for three days and had his reputation shot to pieces, until the allegations were withdrawn. Last year,Mumbai bank executive Porus Mistry was slapped with charges when his colleague alleged rape on the grounds that he had had a threeyear sexual relationship with her by making false promises. false promises.

Members of the legal community and sections of the police feel that the prevailing rape laws are "lopsided and loaded against men'' and need to be modified. Former union law minister Ram Jethmalani, commenting on the rape laws, once said in a courtroom, "Before I could go to bed with a woman, I would have to call a notary public.''

The Indian Penal Code defines rape as intercourse without consent or against will. The most obvious drawback in the law is that it does not differentiate between rape and technical rape, said senior police officer Y. P. Singh.

"Except for a few violent rape cases where brutal force is used most other cases involve some degree of consensual sex,'' said Mr Singh.

According to him, rape charges have be known to be made by women who have been jilted and by minor girls who have had a consensual relationship with older men.Commercial sex workers have also pressed rape charges against clients after being shortchanged. There have also been cases of women crying "rape'' when they're caught in the act.

"In several instances, women have exploited the law by claiming that they were not willing for intercourse but consented only out of fear,'' said counsel P. R. Vakil.

Added criminal lawyer Shrikant Bhatt, "Under the existing rape laws, if the woman states before the court that she did not consent to intercourse then the court presumes that she did not consent.''

The law puts the burden of proof on the accused,who has to show evidence that the intercourse was with the woman's consent. This, says Mr Bhatt, is utterly absurd and impractical. "More so, because the accused has to sometimes prove this several years after the incident,'' he said.

Mr Bhatt, however, also blamed the police for acting hastily on rape complaints and damaging the reputation of innocent men beyond repair.

He said that the police often arrest the accused without an inquiry even when the law specifically states that the accused's custody should be sought only if "there are grounds to believe that the accusation or information is well-founded''.

Police officers, on their part, claimed that they are always under intense pressure to show results on rape complaints. "The police would have been lynched by women rights activists and the media had they not acted promptly in the recent rape case,'' observed former police commissioner A.S. Samra. "Men have to bear the brunt of this haste.''

Women rights activists and lawyers, however, counter these claims. "Most rape cases reported are genuine,'' said activist Sheela Barse,qualifying that the recent case involving the South African woman was an isolated one which should not be interpreted as a new trend.

"It is not true that rape laws are loaded against men,'' said activist-lawyer Mihir Desai. "In fact, the government should further refine the rape laws by including marital rape which, at present, is not considered a crime in the eyes of the law.''

In the US, date rape or acquaintance rape is treated as rape. The same legal remedies and consequences apply to the victims and perpetrators of these rapes as apply to stranger rapes.

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As in other countries throughout the world, rape is common in India. Rape is a social disease. Hardly a day passes without a case of rape being reported in Indian newspapers

and media. Women belonging to low castes, and tribal women are more at risk. What is sad about rape in India is the lack of seriousness with which the crime is often treated.Statistics from 2000 showed that on average a woman is raped every hour in India. Women's groups attest that the strict and conservative attitudes about sex and family privacy contribute to ineffectiveness of India's rape laws. Victims are often reluctant to report rape. In an open court victims must prove that the rapist sexually penetrated them in order to get a conviction. This can be especially damaging. After proving that she has been raped, a victim is often ostracized from her family and community. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that rape laws are inadequate and definitions so narrow that prosecution is made difficult.

For the first time, women in India have legal protection against abuse in their own homes under a law which came into force yesterday. It is the first time Indian law has recognised marital rape, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse of a woman by her husband as crimes. India is a country where the streets are safe - but a woman is not safe inside her own home.

There is a remarkably low rate of violent crime against strangers in most of the big cities, and it is safe to walk the streets of Mumbai or Bangalore late at night. But every six hours, a young married woman is burnt to death, beaten to death, or driven to suicide by emotional abuse from her husband, figures show.

More than two-thirds of married women in India aged between 15 and 49 have been beaten, raped or forced to provide sex, according to the UN Population Fund.

One of the most common causes of violence against women is dowry-related. In most of India, women's families are still expected to provide their husbands with dowries when they marry.

Husbands - or their families - who are dissatisfied with the dowry beat, emotionally abuse and often even kill the women.

Last year 6,787 cases were recorded of women murdered by their husbands or their husbands' families because of their dowries. Many die in "stove burnings": set alight by husbands or in-laws who then claim it was a kitchen accident.

Domestic violence against women is already illegal, under a 1983 law. But the new law marks the first time India has recognised marital rape. Previously it was impossible to prosecute a man for raping his wife, which was considered to be within his conjugal rights.

The new law also for the first time recognises emotional, verbal and economic abuse of a woman by her husband as a crime. Punishment can include a jail sentence of up to one year and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees (£230). Existing law already provides longer sentences for physical violence.

But more importantly, the new law also provides a share of an abusive husband's earnings and property for the victim, and medical costs.

Crucially, it also guarantees abused wives the right to continue living in the family house. Houses are still shared by extended families in much of India, and abused wives are often thrown out by their husbands' in-laws, leaving them destitute and homeless.

"It's going to orient women to stand up for their own rights and take the necessary precautions to empower themselves," said Renuka Chowdhury, minister of women and child development. Previously many women are believed to have been afraid to speak out because they risk losing their husband's financial support for themselves and their children.

But concerns remain that even under the new law, many cases of abuse will still go unreported, unless attitudes towards domestic abuse change. The UN Population Fund's 2005 report found that 70 per cent of Indian women believed wife-beating was justified under certain circumstances, including refusal to provide sex, or preparing dinner late.

Tripla was born in the jungles of eastern India. But she died hundreds of miles from home, in the scrubby fields around Delhi, murdered by her husband because she refused to have sex with his brother.

She was born into a penniless family. So when a man came looking for a wife and offered £170 for her, her parents accepted.

She never saw her home or her family again. Her husband took her to his village in Mewat district, an hour's drive from Delhi. There is a shortage of women in the area, because of the practice of female foeticide.

They lived together as husband and wife for six months. Then Ajmer ordered her to sleep with his brother, who could not afford a wife.

When Tripla refused, Ajmer dragged her to a field near the village and beheaded her with a sickle.

Tripla's story was uncovered by Rishi Kant, a women's rights campaigner. When he told her parents in Jharkhand what had happened, her mother wept. "But what could we do?" she asked him. "We are facing so much poverty we had no choice but to sell her." Her husband is now facing trial for murder. Hers is one case among thousands. Every week, in the villages of Mewat alone, Mr Kant rescues more women who have been bought as wives and face lives of abuse.